Slangs of Bhubaneswar

 Akin to most Americans who have a middle name, majority of those back home in Odisha, my home state back home, from my generation carry a nick name. The first name is also called good name. It is not so uncommon to be asked in India - "What's your good name".

While the first name is used in educational institutes and paperworks, the nicknames given by parents are the ones preferably used by friends and relatives. A common way of addressing a person in the twin city of Cuttack - Bhubaneswar is by using the unique combo of nickname and last (sur) name. For example Bunu Panda, Muna Sahoo, Lulu Patnaik and so on. Don't know why the nickname overrides the first name, with the last name remaining constant.

Nicknames are often juxtaposed with the following terms to form an alias, giving an peculiar identity to that individual.  For example, MOTA or MOTU (fatty), PETA (potbellied), POTALA (rotund), GEDA or BANGURU (shorty), LAMBU or DENGU (tall), TERA (squint), MIAN or PATHANA for Muslims. For example, Budu PETA, GEDA Gopala, Haq MIAN and so on. 

Sometimes certain activities or actions get stuck to names as tattoos get stuck to human body for whole life, refusing to go away. Once in our school one guy farted loudly, followed by bursts of laughter as Chinese crackers on a Diwali night. He was nicknamed as "So and So the Farter". After leaving school he entered the college and thought that the episode will be forgotton. Or so he thought. He asked another guy, a junior from his school asking him if his name "So and So" rings a bell. His  junior gave an impromptu answer - "Oh, So and so the farter". It further his disappointed senior who remorsefully walked away.

Another common and reverent form of addressing is the last name followed by "Babu". In Odisha I have been addressed as Dash Babu on numerous occasions, not yet sure why I am not addressed as Sambeet Babu ! Being referenced as a "Babu" invariably brings an image of a Head Clerk wearing thick framed glass in me, but I never take any offence. 

In REC (now NIT) our teachers with a doctorate degree preferred to be addressed with the prefix Dr. So and So. If someone inadvertently addressed a faculty constipated with tons of ego by his Doctorate degree as a "Mr" instead of "Dr", he was inviting trouble. That was the time I was enlightened that there are two kinds of doctors who live in this world, one PADHAIWALA (teaching) type doctors and the other DAWAIWALA, the medicine kind who treat diseases.

Here you go with a few popular slangs of our time, mostly from the twin city of Bhubaneswar - Cuttack.

MANDU - Nubile Girls

LUNGUDA - A habitual girl chaser

PENA - Nincompoop.

GHODI - Literally meaning mare but denotes a Tom Boyish girl lacking feminine qualities. A tall, lanky girl those days, however pretty she might be would be written off a DENGI GHODI (Tall Mare) versus a plump, fair, short, stocky girl adored as a DAUL DOWL (Chubby) beauty.

LULLA, CHOCHALA - Thoroughy useless, Good for nothing guy.

DHAEEN or DHAIYAAN - Literally means a person with respiratory ailments gasping for breath. As a slang it means a worthless guy, an abject failure in life.

MUNDA - A naive, slow witted person who can be dangerously moronic.

Those days the BADAGADIYAs, the folks living in a village called BADAGADA in the outskirts of the city perfectly fitted the bill as MUNDAs - naive, slow witted folks who can be dangerously stupid. Their heads were rumored to be stuffed with cow dung.

There used to be a popular anecdote about the residents of Badagada. One day the head of the village who was getting persistent headache visited a doctor. He came back triumphantly announcing "Doctor checked my head and found nothing in it" which was followed by cheers from his fellow villagers. Though we were in awe of their muscle power, it did not deterred us from poking fun at the Baragadiyas.